I walked around antique shops looking for something that might have been special to someone but has since lost its importance. As I glance around, I question the worth of everything that is there. I question how long these objects have been sitting on the shelf, waiting. 

   

   I contemplate their history. Who had them first? Who made them? Some people would call them junk, but I see more than that. I see a story. Someone made them, cared for them, owned them, maybe even loved them. These objects have a history of their own.

     

    Looking at the works of artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Robert Motherwell, Jasper Johns, and Marcel Duchamp has influenced my decision to combine readymade objects with traditional art and craft to bring new focus and attention to these forgotten objects. Like these artists, my work aims to create connections to the viewer through the use of standard, everyday objects and hopes to create a unique experience that is varied with every encounter. 

     

    As I gather the objects from antique stores, I question their worth. Walking through the store, I wonder who would stop and gaze at and purchase these discarded memories? By covering them entirely in beads, I have distorted the objects original purpose and meaning, altering their history and worth. By modifying them in this way, I give them a new purpose.

   

    When I search the antique stores for useful relics to transform, I also photograph the environment I find them in. I use the photographs to create intricate collages to construct an altered view of the space and time of my experience in the store. I bead over certain areas in the composition. The beads not only create a striking contrast of color, texture, and depth within the collage, they also add another layer of the unknown to the reconstructed image of the antique stores.

 

    Time is an exciting concept. It can create a sense of familiarity, and it can cause us to recreate experiences out of a haunting sense of nostalgia. The beaded objects and collaged images of the antique stores combine the past and present to create multiple temporalities. The beads mask parts of the collage, encouraging the viewer to ponder what is hidden underneath and to create their interpretation.